Teachers union to seek ouster of mayor, other officials

Stymied in its efforts to stop the city from closing scores of schools, the Chicago Teachers Union on Monday said it will turn its attention to a voter registration campaign and efforts to oust Mayor Rahm Emanuel and other elected officials.

Asked at a news conference if she would consider a run for mayor, CTU President Karen Lewis quickly and loudly said, "No. Thank you." But then she added, "Not yet."

In addition to targeting Emanuel, union officials said they will be looking for candidates to replace aldermen and members of the Illinois General Assembly who "have failed to listen to the voices of thousands of parents, educators, students, school employees and activists."

The union said it will provide "boot camps" for candidates, fund political campaigns through its political action committee and canvass neighborhoods on behalf of its candidates.

Although Chicago Public Schools continues to hold hearings on school closings, Emanuel has said the time for negotiations is over. On Monday, CPS announced that public hearings for each of the schools facing closing this year will begin at its central office Tuesday. The Board of Education is expected to vote May 22 on the plan to close 53 elementary schools and one high school program.

"The mayor has said, 'No more negotiations,'" Lewis said Monday. "Board members have been trotted out to parrot CPS talking points as if they have already voted on the matter. There is no democracy here. These hearings, most likely sham events, are designed to provide therapy to people impacted by their decisions.

"So, if the mayor and his hand-picked corporate school board will not listen to us, we must find those who will."

Lewis said the union's additional political efforts will begin May 23, the day after the school board is expected to vote on closings.

The CTU, whose leadership is up for election May 17, has fought the district's plan to close schools for months.

The union led a downtown rally last month and has conducted a bus tour for elected officials to showcase neighborhoods hit hard by school closings over the past few years. Those tours also served to put a spotlight on the longer and potentially more dangerous walks many students will be forced to take after their schools close.

The closings will be accompanied by job losses, another concern of the union's. Only tenured teachers who score well on their evaluations can move with their students to a receiving school should a position open up. Many teachers whose schools are closing have expressed doubt about whether they will have a job next fall.

Lewis announced the effort during a news conference on the release of a new CTU report that looked at the outcomes from a school that was closed last year, Guggenheim Elementary in Englewood, and from another school that was saved from being shut down two years ago, Beidler Elementary in East Garfield Park.

The report questioned the district's ability to pull off so many closings, saying CPS in the past "mishandled" the transition of students, especially the homeless student population at Guggenheim.

After Guggenheim was shut down, only 37 percent of the school's nongraduating students went to the designated receiving school, according to the CTU report. About 19 percent dropped out, left the district or have not been accounted for by CPS, the report stated.